FIRST THINGS FIRST
01.10.10

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Intro: "Start your new year right. Get a turkey for $26.95." I didn’t know that a good start to a new year was as simple as an affordable turkey. I didn’t know it was that easy. But I believe that an affordable turkey, as good and as tasty as that may be, just isn’t the universal key to starting off the year right. Surely there are some things that are more important.

In the opening weeks of 2010, you and I are going to be presented with options and offers that will start our year out right. It may be any number of things focused on our health, our weight, our mental attitude, our relationships, our finances, our entertainment. Many of these will be fine offers and generally good. They may connect to some important things in our life, but some of them are just turkeys, because they are not really the “First Things” that matter the most.

What is the secret to understanding what is first? It seems like the urgent or the prominent push aside the important. Jesus was once asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” It was a test, and not a bad one. His answer would reveal what he consider to be of first importance:

Matthew 22:34-40 - Two greatest commandments: God and Others. Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19
It really is this simple to identify the first things. Putting the first things first however, can be more challenging ...

1. The Challenge of Balance – The call to love God is total. Love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. There is no part of who we are that is left out. In fact, our social network is included. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. So even in our relationships with others at every level, we are to love.
   • We can become unbalanced and that keeps us from putting first things first:
   • Suppose I give my whole heart to God and my soul seeks to magnify him. I may really do that and yet if I have not put first things first in my mind I may give in to worry and self-doubt or depression.
   • Suppose I give my mind to reflecting on God and I meditate daily on his teachings and spend time in prayer. I may really do that but if in my heart I have not put first things first, then my emotions and my passions may be my own rather than God’s.
   • Suppose that in my heart and mind both, and even in my soul, God and the things of God are first, but my strength – my time, energy, and resources, are not sold out to God. I am unbalanced in putting first things first.
   • Here’s the good news – God is one, and he can balance us and we can be one in putting first things first.

2. The Challenge of the Urgent – The greatest commandment begins with a call to listen. We are distracted by many things. The urgent things in our world demand our attention. They are not bad things, they may even be very good things, but are they FIRST THINGS?
   • When Jesus instructs us to love the Lord our God with all of heart, soul, strength, and mind I do not see much mention of stuff.
   • This is the most difficult time to focus on resolutions and new beginnings because the urgent wants us to look back. We have to go back through receipts from 2009, we will spend hours, maybe days and weeks just trying to wrap up last year and then we will find that this year is nearly a quarter gone!
   • Urgent things may or may not be important. They may be idle, worthless, or ensnaring distractions. Or they may be important things that are indeed vital, but they should not be first.
   • There are urgent things that do matter – Our finances, our work, our health to name some of the most common. Notice that these are not specifically mentioned – rather all that is mentioned is our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
   • We ought to give thanks for our means and be faithful in how we use our wealth no matter how much or how little we have. But it is not a first thing. If we put it first, God will not follow it, but it will follow God.
   • We ought to give thanks for our work if we have work to do – employed or not. We can seek out work, change careers, but this is not a first thing. If we put it first, God will not follow it, but it will follow God.
   • We ought to give thanks for our health, however much we have. We ought to pray if we are sick. We love God with all of our strength, but the commandment never promises how much we will have. If we put health first, God will not follow it, but it will follow God.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Matthew 6:33-34

Putting Second Things Second ...
The second greatest commandment is like the first: Love your neighbor as yourself. Our family, friends, church, can be a source of great strength, but they can also be the center of distress. We still have to put first things first. We can love others in ways that may seem right, but they can be unhealthy. If we love God first, then we begin to regard others as God does. We notice them as men and women made in his image. His children that he loves. It allows us to see how we might love others appropriately and how we might be loved by others.

A truthful community that strives to put God first is vital to putting God first. If we do put first things first, then second things will be put second – not third and fourth. I can love God with all my heart soul strength and mind, but that teaches me to love others.

You cannot master this in a 20 minute time frame. This is the beginning of a journey. Who travels with you? 01.10.10 is a good day to put first things first. Just as 01.11.10 will be and so will 10.10.10. Or any other day at all, because if the First Things are First in our life, all the other things follow – I didn’t say that would just magically be taken care of, I mean that they will follow.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Matthew 6:33-34

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Morning Sermon, 10 January 2010

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